What happens when a doctor becomes the patient?

This week, Zoe sits down with GP, broadcaster and author Dr Punam Krishan for a powerful conversation about motherhood, health and what happens when we put ourselves last.

Following her recent breast cancer diagnosis, Punam reflects on recovery, the traumatic birth of her first child, severe postnatal depression, and the moment she realised that while everyone was focused on the baby, nobody was asking how she was.

Together, Zoe and Punam explore the "maternal health penalty" - why so many mothers normalise exhaustion, pain and overwhelm - and what needs to change so mothers receive the care and support they deserve.

💡 In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why mothers often ignore symptoms and put their own health last

• The hidden long-term impact of birth trauma and postnatal depression

• What the "maternal health penalty" means and why it affects millions of women

• How motherhood physically changes the brain, nervous system and body

• The symptoms mothers should never dismiss as "normal"

• How to advocate for yourself and get the healthcare support you need

If you've ever felt exhausted, unseen or wondered whether what you're experiencing is "just part of motherhood", this episode is for you.

Key Topics

Maternal health • Breast cancer • Postnatal depression • Birth trauma • Mental load • Maternal mental health • Women's health • Motherhood burnout • Pelvic floor recovery • Motherhood and identity • Menopause • Perimenopause • Mother's wellbeing • GP advice for mums • Nervous system healing • Parenting

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If you enjoyed this episode, you might also enjoy Zoe’s conversation with Suzy Reading, The Cost of Being the Selfless One

Feeling like you’re carrying it all? Download your FREE Mental Load Cheat Sheet and learn how to start feeling lighter, even if nothing in your life changes.

Connect with Zoe:

• Follow Zoe on Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok

• Get Zoe’s Sunday Times bestselling book, 'Motherkind: A New Way to Thrive in a World of Endless Expectations’

This Motherkind episode is sponsored by:

• Headline sponsor Wild Nutrition, the brand raising the bar for women’s supplements. Want to feel the Food-Grown difference yourself? Get 50% off for three months at wildnutrition.com/motherkind. Ts and Cs apply.

• Why success doesn't always lead to fulfilment

• The hidden signs of burnout many mothers ignore

• How to create more joy and presence in everyday life

• Why scheduling time for yourself is essential, not selfish

• How breathwork, meditation and spirituality can help restore your energy

• Practical ways to feel more in control when life feels overwhelming

Loved this episode?

Follow or subscribe so you never miss an episode of Motherkind. It helps more mothers find the show and keeps our community growing.

If you enjoyed this episode, you can listen to the full episode: The Rodial Founder on Burnout, Discipline and Why Hustle Culture Fails Mothers

Feeling different since becoming a mother? Get clarity on who you’re becoming now and download your FREE Matrescence Cheat Sheet

Connect with Zoe:

• Follow Zoe on Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok

• Get Zoe’s Sunday Times bestselling book, 'Motherkind: A New Way to Thrive in a World of Endless Expectations’

This Motherkind episode is sponsored by:

• Headline sponsor Wild Nutrition, the brand raising the bar for women’s supplements. Want to feel the Food-Grown difference yourself? Get 50% off for three months at wildnutrition.com/motherkind. Ts and Cs apply.

When was the last time you were completely alone - with nobody touching you, talking to you or needing something from you?

In this episode, Zoe explores why so many mothers crave alone time and why that need isn't selfish - it's essential. If you've ever felt overwhelmed, overstimulated, touched out, exhausted or guilty for wanting space from your children, this episode will help you understand what's really happening in your mind and body.

Zoe unpacks the psychology of modern motherhood, the invisible mental load, emotional labour and the impact they have on a mother's nervous system. She explores why highly sensitive mothers and introverted mothers often experience overwhelm more intensely, how overstimulation can lead to burnout, resentment and mum rage, and why rest is not a luxury but a necessity.

You'll learn why guilt so often accompanies the need for space, how cultural expectations of motherhood keep women trapped in cycles of self-sacrifice, and how protecting even small moments of solitude can help you become a calmer, more present and more connected parent.

If you've ever wondered why you feel constantly needed, emotionally drained or like you've lost yourself in motherhood, this episode is for you.

💡 In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why craving alone time is a healthy response to modern motherhood

• How overstimulation, emotional labour and the mental load affect a mother's nervous system

• Why highly sensitive mothers and introverted mothers often feel more overwhelmed

• The difference between healthy solitude and signs of burnout, anxiety or depression

• Practical ways to create guilt-free space and restoration in everyday life

• Why taking care of yourself helps you show up more calmly for your children

Loved this episode?

Follow or subscribe so you never miss an episode of Motherkind. It helps more mothers find the show and keeps our community growing.

If you enjoyed this episode, you might also enjoy Zoe’s solo episode Why Relaxation Feels Impossible for Mothers – and How to Finally Feel at Ease

Feeling different since becoming a mother? Get clarity on who you’re becoming now and download your FREE Matrescence Cheat Sheet

Connect with Zoe:

• Follow Zoe on Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok

• Get Zoe’s Sunday Times bestselling book, 'Motherkind: A New Way to Thrive in a World of Endless Expectations’

This Motherkind episode is sponsored by:

• Headline sponsor Wild Nutrition, the brand raising the bar for women’s supplements. Want to feel the Food-Grown difference yourself? Get 50% off for three months at wildnutrition.com/motherkind. Ts and Cs apply.

• Why boundaries are simply recognising that you are not limitless

• The hidden link between resentment, overwhelm and burnout

• How motherhood can help you become better at speaking up for your needs

• The small boundary shifts that can transform your relationships

• Why disappointing other people is sometimes necessary

• A simple exercise to identify where you need stronger boundaries right now

Loved this episode?

Follow or subscribe so you never miss an episode of Motherkind. It helps more mothers find the show and keeps our community growing.

If you enjoyed this episode, you can listen to the full episode: You are not limitless: How to use boundaries

Feeling different since becoming a mother? Get clarity on who you’re becoming now and download your FREE Matrescence Cheat Sheet

Connect with Zoe:

• Follow Zoe on Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok

• Get Zoe’s Sunday Times bestselling book, 'Motherkind: A New Way to Thrive in a World of Endless Expectations’

This Motherkind episode is sponsored by:

• Headline sponsor Wild Nutrition, the brand raising the bar for women’s supplements. Want to feel the Food-Grown difference yourself? Get 50% off for three months at wildnutrition.com/motherkind. Ts and Cs apply.

In this episode, Zoe sits down with nutritionist GQ Jordan to talk about the realities of pregnancy, postpartum recovery and the nutritional foundations that help mothers feel more like themselves again.

Drawing on both her professional expertise and personal experience as a mother expecting her second child, GQ shares practical, reassuring advice on everything from managing sugar cravings and energy crashes to recovering from birth, supporting your mental health and letting go of the pressure to do everything perfectly.

This is a conversation for any mother who feels tired, stretched thin, constantly reaching for sugar, or wondering why looking after herself feels so difficult.

• Why so many mothers experience brain fog, exhaustion and sugar cravings - and the simple nutritional shifts that can help

• How to support your recovery after birth, including the key nutrients often overlooked in postpartum

• Why "bounce back" culture is keeping mothers depleted, and what to focus on instead

• The mindset shift that helps ambitious mothers care for themselves without guilt

Watch every full episode on YouTube and subscribe. 

Loved this episode?

Follow or subscribe so you never miss an episode of Motherkind. It helps more mothers find the show and keeps our community growing.

If you enjoyed this episode, you might also enjoy Zoe’s conversation with Dr Federica Amarti - Birth Is The Equivalent of 10 Marathons, And It's Why You're Still Tired (Even Years Later)

Feeling different since becoming a mother? Get clarity on who you’re becoming now and download your FREE Matrescence Cheat Sheet

Connect with Zoe:

• Follow Zoe on Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok

• Get Zoe’s Sunday Times bestselling book, 'Motherkind: A New Way to Thrive in a World of Endless Expectations’

This Motherkind episode is sponsored by:

Headline sponsor Wild Nutrition, the brand raising the bar for women’s supplements. Want to feel the Food-Grown difference yourself? Get 50% off for three months at wildnutrition.com/motherkind. Ts and Cs apply.

Have you ever found yourself saying to your child, "You're OK, don't cry," whilst knowing you mean well, but feeling like something deeper is happening?

This week’s Moment explores a powerful idea: we can only hold our children's emotions to the extent that we can hold our own. So many of us grew up believing resilience meant pushing through, staying strong and keeping it together. But what if real resilience is actually the opposite?

In this conversation, Zoe and Dr Alex George explore the emotional patterns we inherit, why so many of us struggle to sit with difficult feelings, and how learning to hold our own emotions changes the way we parent. There’s a moment where Zoe shares a huge realisation: the reason she struggled with her children’s big feelings wasn’t because of them - it was because no one had ever taught her how to handle her own.

If you've ever felt uncomfortable with your child's tears, frustration or meltdowns, this episode might help explain why.

💡 In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why resilience isn't about "pushing through"

• The parenting patterns we pass on without realising

• Why many millennial parents were never taught emotional processing

• How our early years shape the way we respond to stress

• A simple reframe that can help you hold difficult feelings - yours and your child's

Listen now and see whether this changes the way you think about emotions, resilience and parenting.

Loved this episode?

Watch every full episode on YouTube and subscribe. 

Follow or subscribe so you never miss an episode of Motherkind. It helps more mothers find the show and keeps our community growing.

If you enjoyed this episode, you can listen to the full episode - Why Raising Resilient Kids Starts With Us with Dr Alex George

Feeling different since becoming a mother? Get clarity on who you’re becoming now and download your FREE Matrescence Cheat Sheet

Connect with Zoe:

• Follow Zoe on Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok

• Get Zoe’s Sunday Times bestselling book, 'Motherkind: A New Way to Thrive in a World of Endless Expectations’

This Motherkind episode is sponsored by:

Headline sponsor Wild Nutrition, the brand raising the bar for women’s supplements. Want to feel the Food-Grown difference yourself? Get 50% off for three months at wildnutrition.com/motherkind. Ts and Cs apply

You’re not failing. Your nervous system is overwhelmed, and there’s a reason why.

If you’ve been snapping, overthinking, lying awake at night, or feeling strangely disconnected from your own life, this episode will help you understand why.

Because it’s not a mindset problem.
It’s your nervous system.

In this solo, Zoe goes deeper than typical “nervous system” advice to explore what’s really driving overwhelm in motherhood and why so many of us feel stuck in survival mode, even when nothing is “wrong”.

This is about understanding the root, not just managing the symptoms.

💡 In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why your nervous system feels stuck in survival mode (and why that makes sense)

• How your past experiences shape your reactions in motherhood today

• The hidden beliefs driving overwhelm, guilt, and reactivity

• Simple, practical ways to calm your body and come back to baseline

This episode will help you stop blaming yourself and start understanding what’s really going on underneath.

Watch every full episode on YouTube and subscribe. 

Loved this episode?

Follow or subscribe so you never miss an episode of Motherkind. It helps more mothers find the show and keeps our community growing.

If you enjoyed this episode, you might also enjoy Zoe’s conversation with Nicole Jane Hobbs and her episode, Why Relaxation Feels Impossible for Mothers – and How to Finally Feel at Ease

Feeling different since becoming a mother? Get clarity on who you’re becoming now and download your FREE Matrescence Cheat Sheet

Connect with Zoe:

• Follow Zoe on Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok

• Get Zoe’s Sunday Times bestselling book, 'Motherkind: A New Way to Thrive in a World of Endless Expectations’

This Motherkind episode is sponsored by:

Headline sponsor Wild Nutrition, the brand raising the bar for women’s supplements. Want to feel the Food-Grown difference yourself? Get 50% off for three months at wildnutrition.com/motherkind. Ts and Cs apply

Returning to work after having a baby isn't just a practical transition - for many mothers, it can feel like returning as a completely different person.You expected to feel rusty. You didn't expect to question your confidence, your identity, or whether you're still capable of doing the job you once knew so well.In this Moment, Zoe sits down with Joeli Brearley, founder of Pregnant Then Screwed, to unpack one of the most overlooked parts of motherhood: the return-to-work transition.Joeli shares why this period can feel so overwhelming, how matrescence and brain changes can affect our confidence and sense of self, and why so many mothers believe they're failing when, in reality, the systems around them are failing them.This episode is a powerful reminder that if returning to work felt harder than you expected, there was never anything wrong with you.

💡 In this Moment, you'll learn:

• Why returning to work after maternity leave can feel so emotionally challenging

• The surprising brain changes of matrescence and how they affect confidence

• Why do so many mothers struggle socially and professionally after having a baby

• The hidden leadership skills motherhood develops

• What better support for mothers could actually look like

Watch every full episode on YouTube and subscribe.

Loved this episode?

Follow or subscribe so you never miss an episode of Motherkind. It helps more mothers find the show and keeps our community growing.

If you enjoyed this episode, you can listen to the full episode - The Exhausted Mother’s Guide to A Successful Return to Work with Joeli Brearley

Feeling different since becoming a mother? Get clarity on who you’re becoming now and download your FREE Matrescence Cheat Sheet

Connect with Zoe:

• Follow Zoe on Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok

• Get Zoe’s Sunday Times bestselling book, 'Motherkind: A New Way to Thrive in a World of Endless Expectations’

This Motherkind episode is sponsored by:

• Headline sponsor Wild Nutrition, the brand raising the bar for women’s supplements. Want to feel the Food-Grown difference yourself? Get 50% off for three months at wildnutrition.com/motherkind. Ts and Cs apply.

What happens when the dream career opportunity arrives… just as motherhood asks more of you than ever before?

In this deeply honest conversation, Zoe sits down with Amy, CEO of Steven Bartlett Private Office, to talk about the impossible equation so many ambitious mothers are trying to solve. From taking a huge new role whilst pregnant, to the tension between career ambition and wanting to be the primary attachment figure for your children, this episode is an incredibly raw exploration of modern motherhood, identity and work.

Amy shares the internal conflict so many mothers carry but rarely say out loud: that sometimes we don’t just work for our children, we work because part of us still deeply wants ambition, creativity, challenge and growth too.

This is an episode about intuition, guilt, love, matrescence and learning to live inside the contradictions of motherhood.

💡 In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why motherhood completely changes the way you approach ambition, career decisions and success

• The honest reality of trying to balance leadership, ambition and being the primary attachment figure at home

• What happened when Amy told Steven Bartlett she was pregnant during the hiring process for her CEO role

• How becoming a mother reshaped Amy’s leadership, priorities and understanding of happiness

This episode will especially resonate if you’ve ever felt torn between the part of you that wants to achieve… and the part of you that wants to be fully present at home.

You can connect with Amy via LinkedIn

Watch every full episode on YouTube and subscribe.

Loved this episode?

Follow or subscribe so you never miss an episode of Motherkind. It helps more mothers find the show and keeps our community growing.

If you enjoyed this episode, you might also enjoy Zoe’s conversation with Emma Grede on ambition, motherhood and self-expression.

Feeling different since becoming a mother? Get clarity on who you’re becoming now and download your FREE Matrescence Cheat Sheet

Connect with Zoe:

• Follow Zoe on Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok

• Get Zoe’s Sunday Times bestselling book, 'Motherkind: A New Way to Thrive in a World of Endless Expectations’

This Motherkind episode is sponsored by:

• Headline sponsor Wild Nutrition, the brand raising the bar for women’s supplements. Want to feel the Food-Grown difference yourself? Get 50% off for three months at wildnutrition.com/motherkind. Ts and Cs apply.

Watch every full episode on YouTube and subscribe. 

Loved this episode?

Follow or subscribe so you never miss an episode of Motherkind. It helps more mothers find the show and keeps our community growing.

If you enjoyed this episode, you can listen to the full episode - How our childhood shapes every aspect of our lives with Dr Gabor Maté

Feeling different since becoming a mother? Get clarity on who you’re becoming now and download your FREE Matrescence Cheat Sheet

Connect with Zoe:

• Follow Zoe on Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok

• Get Zoe’s Sunday Times bestselling book, 'Motherkind: A New Way to Thrive in a World of Endless Expectations’

This Motherkind episode is sponsored by:

Headline sponsor Wild Nutrition, the brand raising the bar for women’s supplements. Want to feel the Food-Grown difference yourself? Get 50% off for three months at wildnutrition.com/motherkind. Ts and Cs apply.